123042 PS PS Literary Studies (2025W)

Ludic literature (from Latin ludus: game or play) is hardly new. From the I Ching to the riddles in Late Antiquity, from Tristram Shandy to 1960s ‘shuffle fiction’, many antecedents can be found to the playful, participatory, multimodal, and/or oftentimes ‘digital-born’ examples of today. To cope with the abundance of disparate works and genres that might be referred to as ludic literature, we will use Astrid Ensslin’s idea of ‘cognitive-ergodic ludicity’1 as a delineation in this course. In particular, we will engage with works that are created for and to be experienced on a digital device (such as interactive fiction, kinetic poetry, Twine games, and visual novels), while also examining selected examples of print literature (such as gamebooks and multimodal novels) that influence and are influenced by these newer forms of digital literature.

In small-group and plenum discussions, we pursue questions of how ludic literature is read/played/experienced, its somewhat paradoxical nature, context and formal qualities, as well as how to analyze texts that may be manifold, nonlinear, and open-ended. Students will get to know the concept as well as contemporary research on ludic literature, they will be able to identify and critically engage with ludic narratives, and will be equipped with the necessary tools to put their own ludic experiences into writing.

Parallel to this thematic focus, students will develop their general academic research and writing skills for future applications. At the end of this course, students will have learned how to find a research topic, formulate a research question, find and make effective use of secondary literature, adhere to the rules of good scientific practice, and how to structure and write a term paper.